Fabric dispensing and measuring machine



s. R. ANDERSON AND L. F. CAMPBELL.

FABRIC DISPENSlNGYAND MEASURING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.30, 1920.,

1,420,607. Patented June 20, 1922.

3 SHEET $-SHEET 1.

S. R. ANDERSON AND L. F. CAMPBELL.

FABRIC DISPENSING AND MEASURING MACHINE.

APPLICATION. FILED DEC. 30, 1920.

Patented June 20,1922.

3 v gm uewtozd V 5. H. flzvotfiso'lv LA Carma;

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

v MN NW SAMUEL R. ANDERSON AND LEO 1 CAMPBELL, 0F HARDIN, ILLINOIS.

FABRIC DISPENSING AND MEASURING MACHINE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, SAMUEL R. AND R- SON and LEO GAMrnnLmcitizens of the United Statesyresiding at Hardin, in the county of Calhoun and State of Illinois,. have invented certain new and useful Imrovements in. Fabric Dispensing and easuring Machines; and we do declare the following to he a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which" it appertains to make and use the same. Thisinvention relates to an improved machine for carrying rolls of fabric such as oilcloth, linoleum, wire-screening or any other similar fabric which is carried in rolls, and one object of the invention is to provide a device of the character describedincluding a frame for carrying the rolls of fabric and means for measuring the amount of fabric drawn off of a roll and also means for cutting the strip drawn off. v

Another object of the invention is to provide a stand so constructed that a number of rolls may be placed upon the stand and the fabric from a selected roll drawn off and measured and then out.

Another object of the invention is to so construct the measuring attachment that a signal bell may be sounded as a measuring disk is rotated by the fabric drawn ofi thus permitting the amountof fabric drawn off to be easily kept track of. Another ob 'ect of the invention is to so construct this measuring device that a plurality of signals: may be actuated by a single disk, one signal indicating a given length of material and the second signal a different length of material. v

Another object of the inventionis to provide improved cutting means including a track bar having a knife carriage slidably mounted for movement longitudinally thereof and a pressure bar for engaging the fabric to be 'cut and holding it upon the" the track bar, so that it maybe easilylcut by the knife carried by the knife carriage.

Another object of the invention is to so mount this knife carriage that it may be moved longitudinally of the track bar for cutting the fabric and then returned to its original position by a spring connected with the carriage. v 7

Another Ol)]6Ct of the invention 1s to so Specificationcf Letters Patent. i Patented June 205-1922Q Application filed December 30, 1920. Serial No; 434,054. 7

upright position when in use.

This invention is illustratedin the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a view showing the improved standin front elevation. I

Figure 2 .is a top plan view of theimproved stand. Figure 3 is a K vertical sectional view through the sta' d taken along the line 33 of Fig. 1; I

Figure 4 is av taken along the line 4-4 of Fig.1.

Figure 5 is: a sectional vieW the line 55 of Fig. 2.. I 4 I Figure 6 is a perspective view of the knife carriage.

taken along I fragmentary sectional .view I Figure 7 is 'a fragmentary perspective view showing a portion of the measuring device. H e Flgure 8 1s a fragmentaryview showing in perspective one end portionof oneof the] rollica'rrying rollers and the bearings for rotatably mounting one end of the roller.

extending bars 4. "In'the illustration, the

material used'for forming the various bars of the frame or stand is angle iron but it is to be understood that any suitable material i the way of metal or ooden bars mayjbe standards and'diagonal bracing bars 6 are provided betweenv the standards;2 to brace the standards against movement toward and away from eachothen. Bea-ring brackets 7 are carried by the harsh and are adapted for engagement with the pins8 at the ends .90 used. Supporting bars 5 are carried by the of the rollers 9 uponwhic'h the rolls of fabric 10 will be carried. v It will thus be seen. i

that the number of rolls to be carried will only be limited by the size of the frame and the number of roll supporting bars 5.

In order to slidably mount the knife riage 11 of Fig. 6, there has been provided a track bar which extends; between the forward standards 1. 'This track bar is provided withspaced strips 12 and 13 which are supported and held in spaced relation by the standards 1. These strips 12 and 13 which form the tracks are provided with grooves 15 in which will fit the side ribs 16 of the knife carriage 11. Therefore, the knife car riage may freely move longitudinally of the track but cannot slip out of place. This knife carriage carries a blade 17 which extends upwardly and is sharpened so that as the knife carriage moves longitudinally of the track, a strip of fabric which extends transversely across the track and rests on the work support 14, (Fig. 3) will be cut through and thus the fabric to be sold is cut from the remainderof the fabric. In the present illustration, the cutter has been shown as a knife blade carried by the knife carriage, but it is to be understood that if desired, a rotating cutter could be substituted in place of the stationary knife blade. In order to impart movement to the carriage, there has been provided an actuating line 18 'w'hichis connected with an eye 19 at one end of the carriage. This line 18 extends about a pulley wheel 20 carried by a block 21 (Fig. 2) which extends transversely of and is carried by the standards 1 and 2. A similar line 22 is connected with an eye 23 at the opposite end of the carriage and is passed about a pulley 24 carried by the block 25 which corresponds to the block 21. This line 22 is connected with a spring 26 (Fig. 1) and it.will thus be seen that when the carriage is moved by means of the line 18 to cut the fabric and the line 18 is then released, the spring which has been stretched during the cutting stroke will serve to draw upon the line 22 and thus return the carriage to its original position. Therefore, the strip of fabric will be cut through and the knife carriage will return to its original position ready for a second cutting action.

In order to hold the strip of fabric to be cut in engagement with the track, there has been provided a pressure bar having side strips 27 which are positioned in spaced relation and held in this spaced relation by the cross strips 28. These strips 27 having supporting bars 29 (Fig. 2) secured to their upper faces and in order to brace the supporting bars, there has been provided bracing arms 30. The supporting bars 29 are hingedly connected with a bar 31 which extends longitudinally of the frame and has its end portions connected with bars 32 carried by the standards. It will thus be seen that thepressure bar will of its own weight rest upon the track bar and will serve to hold the strip of fabric to be cut in firm engagement with the track bar. It will be further noted that the blade will extend between the strips forming the pressure bar as the knife carriage moves longitudinally of the track bar. intermediate its length, there has been provided bracing bars 33 which extend verti- In order to brace the track bar cally in converging relation from the lower ends of the standards 1 and are connected with a short strip 34 positioned beneath the strips 12 and 13 which form the track bar.

The disk 35 is rotatably mounted in bearings 36 which are carried by the side, arms 37 of the disk carrying frame. These side arms are carried by a cross bar 38 hingedly connected with the bar 31 and itwill thus be i seen that the frame which carries the disk will be hingedly mounted and the disk will rest upon the strip of fabric passing from the roll across the track bar. Movement of the strip of fabric will therefore cause the disk to rotate. The side arms 37 carry bells 39 and 40 which are of different sizes as shown in Fig. 1 so that the two bells will have different sounds when struck. Resilient strips 41 and 42 (Fig. 7-) are carried b these side arms and each carries a striker 43 which will engage its respective bell when the strip is swung upwardly and then released and permitted to return to its original position. Each of these resilient strips is further provided with an extension 44 which extends towards the disk for engagement by cleats 45 and 46 positioned upon the sides of the disk adjacent the periphery thereof. The. cleats vary in number, the cleats 45 upon one side of the disk being preferably spaced a distance of one yard apart and the cleats 46 upon the opposite side being spaced a shorter distance. These cleats which are spaced a shorter distance apart may be spaced a distance of one foot, a quarter of a yard or any desired distance according to the desires of the user. Inch marks can be provided upon the edge face of the disk thus permitting the fabric to be cut for a length in inches, as well as the desired length in feet or yards.

Nhenthis machine is in use, it is set up as shown and rolls of fabric will be put in place as shown in Fig. 3. vVhen it is desired to draw off a certain amount of material from one of the rolls, the material of this particular roll will be passed beneath the disk 35 and between the pressure bar and track bar. The pressure bar and disk can, of course, be raised so as to permit the strip of fabric to be easily put in place. After the fabric is-in place, the pressure bar will be lowered to rest upon the fabric and the disk will be turned so that one of the cleats 45 indicating yards will rest upon the upper face of its resilient strip 42. The strip of fabric will then be drawn outwardly and rolled upon the supporting arms or brackets 47 (Fig. 3) .and as this strip of fabric asses off of the roll, the disk will be rotated. f it is desired to obtain one yard, the fabric will only be unwound until'the signal bell indicating yards has been rung once. If

it is desired to draw off a yardand two-' thirds, the unwinding of the fabric will be continued until the bell indicating feet has been sounded twice following the ringing of the yard bell. yard'bell or foot bell does not accurately indicate the proper amount and it is desired to unwind a few inches beyond that indicated by the ringing of the bell, the unwinding will be continued until the desired number of inches is indicated upon the edge face of the disk. The strip will then be cut off from the main body of the roll. In order to cut the strip from the main body of the roll, it is simply necessary to draw upon the line 18 and the knife carriage will be moved longitudinally of the track bar with the cutting blade passing through the strip of fabric. The line 18 can then be released and the spring will draw upon the line 22 thus returning the knife carriage to the original position. It will thus be seen that with this device, a desired quantity of fabric can be drawn off from a roll and then easily cut from the body of the roll.

We claim 1. A measuring machine comprising a stand, a track bar having a longitudinally extending slot provided with side receiver, a knife carriage slidably mounted in the slot for movement longitudinally therein and provided with side ribs fitting into the side recesses of the groove of said track bar to support the carriage, a knife carried by the carriage and extending above the track bar, a pressure bar hingedly mounted and of its own weight resting upon the track bar and having a slot to receive the knife carried by said knife carriage, means for measuring material drawn transversely over the track bar, means for imparting movement to the knife carriage, and means for yieldably retaining the carriage at one end of the track bar and returning the carriage to its original position.

2. A measuring instrument comprising a stand including a track and means for rotatably mounting a roll of material to be If the ringing of the dispensed and measured, a pressure bar for holding material from the rollacross the track, a rotatably mounted measuring disk turned through engagement with the material, a bell on the mounting of said disk, a resilient strip mounted adjacent said disk, a striker carried by said strip for engaging and sounding said bell,and abutments means carried by saiddisk for engaging said strip and after moving the strip away from said bell, releasing the strip whereby the strip will return to its original positionand the striker engage and sound said bell- 3. A measuring machine comprising a stand including a track, a knife carriage movable longitudinally of the track, a presmounted for movement into and out of engagement with said track, supporting arms hingedly connected with said stand, a measuring disk rotatably carried by the supporting arms, signal bells carried by said arms, adjacent said disk, resilient strips carried by said arms and movable vertically toward and away from the arms, strikers carried by said strips for engaging said bells,

and abutments extending from the sides of said disk for engaging and releasing said strips, as the disks rotate, the'strips when released returning to their original positions and bringing the strikers into engagement with the bells to engage and sound the'same. In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands.

SAMUEL R. ANDERSON. LEO F. CAMPBELL. 

